Chords for St Patrick Battalion

_ _ _ _ My name is John Riley.
[Ab] I'll have your ear [Eb] only a while.
[Ab] I left my dear [Eb] home in Ireland
It was death, starvation, [Cm] or exile
When I got [Bb] to America, it was my duty [Cm] to go
_ Enter the army and slog across [Bb] Texas to join in the [C] war against Mexico
And _ [Eb] it was there in the Pueblos and [Bb] hillsides that [Ab] I saw the [Eb] mistake I had made
[Ab] Part of a [Eb] conquering army [Bb] with the morals of a [C] bayonet blade
And [Ab] there amidst all these [Eb] poor dying Catholics screaming [Ab] children the burning [C] stench of it all
[Eb] Myself and [Ab] 200 [Bb] Irishmen decided to [C] rise to the call [Ab] from Dublin City [Bb] to San Diego _
We witnessed [G] freedom denied
[Ab] So we formed the St.
[Bb] Patrick Battalion and we fought on the [C] Mexican side
[Ab] We formed the St.
[Bb] Patrick Battalion and we fought on the [C] Mexican side _
_ _ [Eb] We marched meet the green flag of St.
Patrick [Ab] and blazed with Eran [Eb] go brah
_ [Ab] Right with the harp and the [Bb] shamrock and never a tad harder than a [C] publica
Just 50 years [Eb] after Wollstone
5,000 miles [Cm] away
The Yanks [Bb] called us a legion of [Ab]
strangers [Bb] and they can talk as [C] they may but [Ab] from Dublin City [Eb] to San Diego
[Bb] We witnessed [C] freedom denied
[Ab] So we formed the St.
[Eb] Patrick Battalion [Bb] and we fought on the [C] Mexican side
[Ab] We formed the St.
[Bb] Patrick Battalion and we fought on the [C] Mexican side
_ _ _ [Eb] We fought them in Matamoros where their volunteers were raping the nuns
[Ab] In Monterey [Eb] and Cerro Gordo we fought [Gm] on as Ireland's [Gm] sons
We were [Ab] the redheaded fighters for [Bb] freedom amidst [Ab] these brown [Cm]-skinned women and men
[Bb] Side by side we [Ab] fought against tyranny [Bb] and I dare say we'd do it [C] again
from [Ab] Dublin City [Eb] to San Diego
[Bb] We witnessed freedom [C] denied
So [Ab] we formed the St.
Patrick [Bb] Battalion and we fought on the Mexican [C] side
We [Ab] formed the St.
[Bb] Patrick Battalion and we fought on the Mexican [Cm] side _
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[Eb] _ _ _ [Fm] _ _ _
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[F] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [Bb] _
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[Dm] [Eb] We fought them in five major battles
_ Churubusco [Bb] was the last _
_ [Eb] Overwhelmed by the cannons from Boston [Bb] we fell after [C] each mortar blast
[Ab] Most of us [Bb] died on that hillside [Ab] at the service of the [Cm] Mexican state
[Eb] So far from our occupied homeland.
We [Bb] were heroes and victims [C] of hate from [Ab] Dublin City [Eb] to San Diego
[Bb] We witnessed [C] freedom denied
So [Ab] we formed the St.
[Bb] Patrick Battalion and [Bb] we fought on the [C] Mexican side from [Ab] Dublin City [F] to San Diego
[Bb] We witnessed [C] freedom denied
So [Ab] we formed the [Bb] St.
Patrick Battalion and we fought on the [C] Mexican side
[Ab] We formed the St.
[Eb] Patrick Battalion [Bb]
and we fought on the [G] Mexican side _
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